CHICAGO—The Chicago co-working scene has been expanding in the past year, and now has a new player. MakeOffices, a leading national coworking and private office space company, will officially open its first two Chicago locations on February 1, one at 350 N. Orleans St. in River North, and the other at One North State in the Central Loop. Combined, the two sites will eventually add about 130,000 square feet to the city's growing inventory of co-working space, which seems likely to grow even further this year.

"We are starting to see the rise of the new hybrid employee, and they need office space," MakeOffices chief executive officer Raymond Rahbar tells GlobeSt.com. This expanding group includes entrepreneurs, freelancers, and those working for businesses with five or fewer employees. Furthermore, "Chicago has emerged as a strong innovation hub with a world-class startup ecosystem and a rich talent pool, making it a natural city for MakeOffices expansion."

MakeOffices began in Washington, DC, where it has about 200,000 square feet of co-working space. "That is completely sold out," Rahbar adds, which helped give the company the confidence to begin expanding to other cities. "Chicago is a much bigger market than DC, and Chicago is a traditional city with a dense downtown; that density helps co-working a lot." Sixteen companies are already on board at the River North site.